6 December

From an artistic point of view, Millet is Millet, Corot Corot, fixed — as the sun itself, in my view.  Five years ago I thought differently about it, in so far as I thought that Millet, say, would remain fixed, EVEN in price, but since then — precisely because I see Millet is usually just as much utterly misunderstood now that he’s less concealed and is more in evidence in reproductions, for instance, as when he was despised — I fear he’ll remain somewhat outside public taste and — it isn’t certain that those who understand him best will have to pay as much money for him later as they do now.

25 October

Rappard is still here and will be staying for another week since the work is going extraordinarily well. He’s making women spinning and various studies of heads, has already made 10 studies or so, all of which I consider fine.
We’ve talked together quite a lot about Impressionism — I think that you would classify his work as that. But here in Holland it’s hard to work out what Impressionism is actually trying to say. But both he and I are greatly interested in what the present aim is. And it’s certain that unexpected new ideas are beginning to emerge. That paintings are once again beginning to be painted in very different tone from a few years ago.

The last thing I made is a rather large study of an avenue of poplars with the yellow autumn leaves, where the sun makes glittering patches here and there on the fallen leaves on the ground, which are interspersed with the long shadows cast by the trunks.
At the end of the road a peasant cottage, and the blue sky above it between the autumn leaves.
I think that in a year’s time — having spent that year once again painting a great deal and constantly — I’ll change my manner of painting and my colour a great deal, and that I’m likely to become slightly more sombre rather than lighter.